Monday Mashup – Human Journalism

Monday Mashup is a quick look at sites, events, conversations, and happenings on and offline relevant to travelers, writers, and journalists. This week we look at readings, the “human journalism project,” and more. Happy Monday.

Cinnaminta

a free online service which enables you to request your poems, original writing, celebrations, acts of remembrance, prayers, messages or anything else to be read out aloud in places around the world which are special for you but which you cannot easily visit.

What I find most relevant about this site is the seemingly random way people use the requests, not just for readings, or to yodel across a canyon, but to ask for pictures, video, and sounds from particular places. I feel like the whole concept is a new way of exploring people’s relationship to place.

Translation: “We want a human journalism because we need to go back to knowing why we wanted to be journalists. Because we didn’t stop believing. Because we don’t go shrinking everything down to dates and abbreviations. Because you can be responsible, ethical, honest, conscientious, and still be happy. Because it’s good to recognize the doubts and fears behind that which informs us.* Because journalism, like life, begins with the little things.”

*not 100% sure of that particular sentence.

This project looks like a major opportunity for Spanish speaking and bilingual journalists wishing to work with a transparent and brilliant community.

8 Key Terms for Determining Legitimacy in Journalism

Sarah Menkedick sent me this article last week on determining legitimacy. I really like this post, particularly in the way it rejects the notion that “professionalism” is equivalent to “legitimacy.”

Jay Rosen writes:

These thoughts grew from a comment thread at Nieman Lab. The post in question was titled: The news Good Housekeeping seal: What makes a nonprofit outlet legit? Such things as: adherence to the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics, submitting entries for professional prizes and holding a press credential from a federal or state body were said to be good proxies for legitimacy in journalism. I objected to this:

I don’t think “professionalism” is a feature of legitimacy at all. We could say it’s one way of attempting to secure legitimacy, but the equation: professional news person = legitimate provider of news does not work.

Rosen then gave his 8 key terms, beginning with veracity:

I’d start with the will to veracity, also known as truthtelling. Truthtelling even when it hurts or causes problems for your friends. Real journalists tell us what happened because it actually happened that way, and not some other way. All forms of legitimacy derive from this one.

That Periodismo Humano is a total find. I’ve gotta say that los hermanos hispanohablantes are really trailblazing in new journalism– the Periodismo Ciudadano project is pretty interesting, too. Glad you’re giving attention to them and wish the US and mainstream media were paying more attention.

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/david-miller David Miller

it is julie. that project looks really cool. it’s all being built on wordpress, and i think the intention behind it is really solid.

i’ve been tuning in to more spanish blogs and sites lately. i feel like there’s so much out there i have no idea about.

i noticed to too that the cinnaminta is looking for people to translate their website into spanish.

will have to check out periodismo ciudaduano.

http://rebeccakinsella.wordpress.com/ Rebecca

Cinnaminta is a great idea, i’d love to capture the sounds of a few places i miss and bring on national day of unplugging!!